This is not unusual and very typical when hiring cars in the USA but Avis were particularly insistent is selling us additional insurance and upgrades which we didn't need. I booked the car via British Airways which covered most of the insurances, however the gentleman at the desk first offered an upgrade to a BMW, which would have almost doubled the price, followed by insurance cover for the excess, although I told him that my works policy already covers excess, then road side assistance, which he told me that we had no cover whatsoever, but now looking at my BA terms, there is road side assistance, what I don't have is enhanced road side assistance which was never explained to me.

This is very underhand, if you are not careful your daily car hire rate could easily be 3 time more expensive that what was booked online.

I have no problem with Avis making me aware of the options, but this is hard sell and not making it clear what cover I had and the benefits of the extras. Furthermore, a NO means a NO, there is something that I find unacceptable that when you tell someone that you are not interested, that they still insist to sell you the same